The Gift That Keeps on Giving
by darveysecretsanta2018
Summary: It's Christmas time at ZSLWW and that means it's time for the annual secret Santa! Harvey does not pull Donna's name, but goes to surprising lengths to secretly trade for her name. Donna, who can always suss out her Santa, is clueless this year after receiving her weekly/ biweekly gifts. Darvey.


Another December day, another Darvey fic. Please enjoy with mulled wine and reviews. :)

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Prompt by Rachel (rwimsatt23): It's Christmas time at ZSLWW and that means it's time for the annual secret Santa! Harvey does not pull Donnas name, but goes to surprising lengths to secretly trade for her name. Donna, who can always suss out her Santa, is clueless this year after receiving her weekly/ biweekly gifts.

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Harvey strode into Louis' office. The smaller man panicked quietly as Harvey slumped himself into the chair in front of Louis' desk. Louis looked at him, Harvey was at ease. He wanted something.

'Harvey?' Louis shuffled in his chair.

'Louis' Harvey leant forward placing his forearms on Louis' desk 'I need a favour'.

Louis relaxed instantly. Harvey's demeanour was was passive. He wasn't pissed about a client, he wasn't upset about an associate, and most importantly he wasn't angry at Louis.

'What can I do for you Harvey?'

'I've just got the email with the secret Santa draw'.

Louis leant back in his chair, hands in his lap and a grin on his face. 'Oh yes?'.

'I drew Samantha'.

'Harvey you're not meant to tell people who you got it's called SECRET Santa' Louis was agitated already.

Harvey rolled his eyes ' I don't want Samantha'

'Harv-'

'I want Donna'

Louis stopped. 'Well you don't have her, you have to buy for who you got'

'Louis'

Louis shuffled.

'I know you have Donna'

'How?'

'I walked passed as you opened the email and I saw you leap like you're in the ballet'

Louis huffed. 'Well now you've ruined it for two of us are you happy?'

'I want to trade'

'No! Harvey no that's not how this works you know the rules'

'I will do anything Louis'

'Why do you want Donna so much?' Louis smirked slightly as he said it.

Harvey's stoney expression didn't waiver. 'It's a chance to make up for all the bad gifts I've bought or secretaries' days I've missed. Louis please'

Louis looked at the taller man in front of him. His demeanour was strong and his face was cold but his voice was soft in a way Louis only heard when he was talking about the COO. He wasn't sure if he meant it about wanting to make up for gifts because Harvey was notoriously poor at buying presents for anyone, but there was a silkiness to his voice that was more than just not wanting to buy for the firm's newest Senior Partner.

'Okay' Louis folded his arms 'but you have to do something for me'

'Louis' Harvey sighed

'I'm not just giving you your way Harvey, not this time. Donna is worth too much'.

'Fine okay. What do you want?'

'Firstly you have to follow my pattern of gift giving: 4 weeks, 4 gifts, and one for Christmas day'

'No'

'Fine have fun buying for Samantha' Louis began to turn in his chair.

Harvey sighed. He was clearly not amused at all. He looked Louis in the eyes 'fine'.

Louis all but clapped with excitement 'great!' He exclaimed 'I've already started planning gifts but we can put a Harvey spin on some of them!'.

'You literally drew her name an hour ago, how can you be this prepared already?'

Louis grinned 'I love Donna, Harvey. And I love making her happy so I've spent the last hour coming up with stuff she'd like but that is still secret enough not to give me away!'

Harvey smirked.

'Don't laugh Harvey I'm serious! Donna puts so much thought and effort and love into what she buys me! She's an angel, Harvey don't fuck this up' Louis' expression grew serious 'she deserves the best and if you're serious about making up for endless bottles of Scotch and missed birthdays then you need to think up some good gifts otherwise I am not trading!'

Harvey put his hands up 'okay okay, I get it. I will not mess this up. In fact, I could use your help a little… you know, because you like doing this kind of thing'

Louis shrugged 'For Donna, sure! But this has as much to do with you as it does her'

Harvey glared but Louis took no notice 'You're obvious Harvey. So obvious in fact I've thought of my second condition for swapping names' Louis grinned.

Harvey sighed.

 **Monday week 1.**

Donna strode out of the elevator. It was Monday morning, time to conquer another week. She was about to wave to the receptionists when she stopped in her tracks.

The words I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, two men are called a law firm were strung across the reception desk on a white banner. It was a line from John Adams speaking in the play 1776, Donna knew that.

'What's this?' Donna enquired, a wry smirk on her face. The receptionists beamed back.

'We've been told to keep it quiet, Miss Paulsen' one of them smiled.

'Happy Monday' the other chuckled.

Donna gave them a look each that said she knew what was going, because of course she did! She's Donna. And this had Louis Litt written all over it. She grinned to herself as she thought of Louis going all out for her Secret Santa. He was famed for his extravagance when it came to Christmas gifts. One year he had filled Jessica's office with cacti having heard her once mention that a client had bought her a small one for her office. Louis never disappointed.

Donna rounded the corner when there, hanging on the file room door, another banner. This one read Lawyers are: People whose profession it is to disguise matters. Another quote, this one from Thomas More, a Catholic Saint who, in his mortal life, had been an English lawyer. Donna knew Louis knew she would know where these quotes came from, and that they would make her smile. She was going to enjoy being his Secret Santa.

On Robert's office, next to hers, another banner: Lawyers are: perilous mouths. Shakespeare! Donna laughed and looked at Robert though the glass walls.

'You seen this?' She mouthed and laughed.

He shrugged back at her and made a zipping motion across his mouth. She nodded, presumably Louis had told Robert to keep quiet too. He was brave when it came to Christmas extravagance.

She sat elegantly at her desk and immediately noticed the wrapped gift in front of her. It had a label which, like all the banners, was typed. Louis' must've thought typing would keep his identity secret from her. The label instructed her to open the gift, so she did just that.

It was a set of crystal Scotch glasses. They were beautiful, and, she thought, probably extremely expensive. She looked closer at them and noticed the delicate inscription around the rim

Let's kill all the lawyers.

Her favourite Shakespeare quote from Henry VI. She had a little plaque with that inscribed from when she still worked outside Harvey's office on her new desk, but these glasses were exquisite. She smiled as she twirled the glasses to read the quote. Beautiful. Bless Louis Litt!

 **Thursday week 2.**

Donna had almost forgotten last week's Secret Santa extravaganza. The banners had mysteriously disappeared after she had come back from her quick lunch trip to the bagel stand outside and the whole firm had refused to acknowledge they had been there at all. If it weren't for the beautiful crystal glasses she may have even been persuaded she dreamt the whole thing.

She was working on a report when there was a knock at her office door. She looked up to see a delivery man looking sheepishly at her.

'Donna Paulsen?' He asked.

'The one and only' she smiled back.

The delivery man looked over his shoulder and gestured. From around the corner came a small army of florists, each carrying half a dozen or so bunches of red roses.

Donna watched in awe, and in slight horror, as the roses were paraded into her office and arranged as neatly as possible over her shelves, tables, desk, and windowsills.

'That's 206 red roses for you, Miss Paulsen' the delivery man confirmed as he handed her a clipboard to sign. She almost rolled her eyes at 206. The number of her apartment. She let out a low chuckle instead.

She smiled and handed back the clipboard. She got up to inspect her new flower filled office with her hands on her hips. This was so over the top it could only be the work of a Litt. At least it wasn't an office full of tiny cacti!

 **Tuesday** **week** **3**.

As the third week of December rolled around the mornings had gotten colder. Donna shuffled into the executive kitchen. She had come in early and the office was still cold and dark. As far as she knew she was the only one on the 50th floor so she decided to sneak in to the executive kitchen.

She knew full well she didn't need to sneak in like she used to when she and Rachel were still a secretary and a paralegal. But she liked the thrill of the idea of 'breaking in'.

She pushed through the door as the sudden waft of vanilla hit her. There were candles burning softly and a box of vanilla flavoured muffins on the kitchen island, each with a strawberry on top. The smell was intoxicating and felt oh so familiar and comforting to her. There was something incredibly homely about the smell.

Next to the box of muffins was a small bottle of vanilla scented perfume and a mug with a small bottle of vanilla flavour for adding to coffee.

At that moment Gretchen came through the doors. 'Morning, Red' she quipped.

Gretchen stopped and looked around 'and what may I ask is going on in here? Early morning séance?' she gestured at the candles.

'I believe this is stop number 3 on the whistle stop tour of Louis Litt's mind' Donna retorted 'I think he's got me for Secret Santa. Last week I had 206 red roses marched into my office, and before that some crystal glasses with my favourite Shakespeare quote engraved'.

Gretchen replied 'over the top? Expensive? A little bit mad? Sounds like Louis Litt to me' she laughed dryly and went about making her morning coffee.

Donna smiled back at the older woman but she was beginning to question herself. Which almost never happened, she was Donna after all. Shakespeare and over the top flower deliveries screamed Louis, but the vanilla was different. Only one person knew about vanilla, and he was the least likely person to voluntarily give up what could be considered sensitive information to Louis. For goodness sake he'd told Louis he found tomatoes sensual! But this was too much for Harvey to have done. He was, after all, the man that had regifted her a bottle of Scotch that she had bought him for Christmas the previous year for her birthday. Notoriously awful at buying gifts, Harvey had given up years ago and instead pretended not to notice when Donna bought herself gifts with his corporate card. Donna, of course, knew he was pretending not to know and thoroughly enjoyed pushing the boundaries to see how much she could get away with before he called her out. But that was the old them.

Sadly their relationship had changed after his ill thought out relationship with his ex-therapist. After insisting everything was back to 'normal' they had drifted apart, and though they were friendly, they were no longer on good enough terms for him to put any effort into buying her a Secret Santa gift, let alone lighting up the executive kitchen like a vanilla Christmas tree. It could only be Louis.

 **Christmas** **Eve**

Christmas Eve was the last day of work for Zane Specter LittWheeler Williams. It was rolling on 6pm and instead of hang around Donna was determined to leave at a reasonable hour. Her last task was to deliver her Secret Santa gift. As she packed her laptop into her bag there was a knock at the door.

It was Samantha. 'Merry Christmas, Donna' the blonde's mouth twitched into her signature half smile.

'Merry Christmas, Samantha' Donna didn't want to sound rushed but she wanted to get away before she got caught up in some last minute business.

'Actually before you leave, I could use your help in the file room… the copier is jammed and I hear you're the fax whisperer around here'

'I go by many names: Donna, the fax whisperer, in some cultures they call me God'

Samantha laughed and gestured with her head 'please? It'll take 2 minutes'

Donna obliged and followed Samantha, it'd take 2 minutes and then she could finally leave for the Christmas break.

As they reached the file room Samantha suddenly gasped 'Shit, I forgot a file in my office, I just need to shoot and get it so I can file it, I'll be 2 seconds! Can you get the copier working for me?' Samantha spun round and swanned off back towards her office.

Donna hurried into the file room to get the copier going before anyone else caught her. She stopped dead. The whole file room was plastered in sheet music. The shelves, the walls, even the copier itself. She looked at the music and gasped quietly. It was Boppin' With Donna.

'Hey' the voice behind her was soft. Soft in a way only she ever got to here. She spun around. Harvey was in his navy blue suit, he had obviously ignored the Christmas dress code and had ditched the Santa hat Louis had tried to get him to wear. He looked good.

'Hey' she replied quietly.

'Merry Christmas' he shuffled. He was nervous.

'Is this… Did you do this?'

'Did you like the glasses? With the quotes? Or the roses?' He was mumbling slightly but holding his cool.

Donna stared at him. 'Was that you? Did you do all that?'.

He nodded looking down slightly 'I mean Louis did help I guess, a little' he smiled then. The smile he reserved only for her.

She melted. 'You were Secret Santa? How did… You… How?' She was exasperated 'This is so unlike you'

He looked a little hurt and she winced as the words left her mouth.

'Donna I've known you for 12.5 years, I know you better than anyone here, even Louis! He just has a flare for the theatricaland I sure as hell do not'.

She was lost. For the last few months, since Paula, since the merger, he had been so distant.

'Harvey what is this? What are you doing?'

'It's Secret Santa, Donna. It's meant to be a surprise… You're surprised'

He was right, she was. She didn't like it. She didn't know what she was feeling except an overwhelming desire to be near him. She was so caught off guard, not something she was used to. She missed him so much.

'I missed you, Donna'.

She snapped out of her own thoughts at the words. It was like he'd heard her think.

'We never figured out what our "normal" is. But I know it's not having you on the other side of the office. I miss you and I wanted to show you that' he gestured around the room 'and I thought the best way to do that was to show you that I am capable of surprising even the great Donna Paulsen'.

She had two choices in this moment. Thank him and tell him she appreciated all of his effort and carry on as they were, or be truthful and let him know that she missed him desperately.

She moved forward, no longer thinking just acting on walk towards him felt minutes long when it could have been no more than five seconds. She put her arms around his neck, her lips connected with his. It was just a split second but her whole body felt as though it went up in flames. For the second time, Donna had completely lost herself in him. She would curse herself, but it felt right in this moment.

He pulled away staring back at her in disbelief. She was overwhelmed, but she stood her ground. Last time she had walked away from him apologising, chastising herself, and jeopardising their relationship seemingly beyond repair.

This time, as she stepped back, he stepped closer to her. He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her face to look at him. He kissed her. Finally.

This time her body really was set ablaze. Why he hadn't done that all that time ago in her office was still a mystery, but he was making up for it. His thumb gently stroked her cheek while the other held her close to him. He broke away, just far away enough to be able to look into her eyes.

'Why' was the only word she was able to murmur. She pulled it together before she lost her cool entirely. Now was not the time to lose her way with words.

He laughed. Something in her stomach clenched at the sound. Was he mocking her?

'Because it's you, Donna' he said softly 'it's always you'.

Her insides were in knots.

'I traded Louis for you in the Secret Santa because even though we said we were back to normal I've never felt more distant from you and I can't be like that, not with you'.

He was sincere. He was using his 'Donna voice' – so soft but oh so powerful.

'I hope you recognise the effort here' he smirked.

She looked up into his eyes 'Well now I wish I'd drawn you in the Secret Santa'.

He chuckled 'there's no point secret about this anymore, you can just kiss me like that again and we'll be even'.

'I think Benjamin would be pretty upset if I swapped my Secret Santa to you this late in the game' she smiled. She was cautious, she was Donna, but why fight him. He was right. This was right.

 **Christmas Day**

They didn't spend Christmas together. There was time for thatin future. For now it was all so fresh. Harvey had explained how Louis had sewn the seeds for the weeks of gifts and that Harvey had executed them with the help of most of ZSLWW. Benjamin had printed the banners with quotes on them and Alex had hung them up late under the guise of meeting a client. The glasses had been an ode to Harvey's previous gifts of regifted Scotch and unimaginative excuses as to why he hadn't got her a gift for this day or that.

The roses had been Louis' idea. He had learned from the cacti incident that small, prickly things were not necessarily the way to a woman's heart. Harvey had protested, it was not his style, be in order to keep Donna in the dark they had decided an overly romantic gesture, like sending her 206 roses, would keep her convinced it was Louis' doing. Keeping Donna Paulsen off the trail was never going to be an easy task for two of the men she knew best.

Gretchen had helped with the vanilla. She'd been to every bakery on the block to find the best muffins, and had spent countless hours at various candle outlets and markets. She had, as she had insisted, been paid for her extra hours.

The sheet music had actually been Harvey's idea. There weren't many people he loved enough to cover a whole room in sheet music, but Donna, and his dad, who had first playedBoppin' With Donna for him as a child, were those people. He'd roped in Samantha to lure Donna into the file room, and Robert had taken a meeting for him while Harvey pasted the wall in copies of old sheet music he had dug out from the sacred box of his dad's old things he kept.

Four weeks. Four gifts. Each meaning something, all with the intention of keeping Donna in the dark. She admired his effort. Louis usually saved a gift for his Secret Santa for Christmas Day as well, but she didn't mind one missing gift, not when all she really cared about was Harvey finally tuning into his feelings.

Her phone buzzed, a text.

She opened the message and had to cover her mouth to stop herself from gasping out loud. She was with her dad for Christmas and she did not want to have to explain this particular image to him.

'Merry Christmas' read the text. Beneath the words a photo of Louis and Harvey mudding. Harvey had said he had traded Louis for her name in the Secret Santa, and presumably this was Louis' condition for the swap. She saved the photo and laughed quietly.

Harvey kissing her back was a gift she couldn't have imagined getting after the year they had had… but Harvey mudding? That was the gift that would keep on giving!


End file.
